Couple questions about Magneplanars...

[tnptruck]

Bought a pair of these magnepans and was wondering if anyone could tell me the frequency response of these speakers. Also I was wondering if anyone knew how much power these need to get up to a descent level... Would 15 watts be enough. When I bought them them the guy told me the speakers are 4 ohm but that it drops to about two when they are playing.. Is this true?

Thanks

http://www.ebay.com/itm/Pair-of-MAGN...item4ac16413db

[Davey]

No, that's not true.

Regarding the power requirements......it depends upon how loud you want to play them, how big your room is and how much bass your program material contains. More than likely a power amplifier rated at 15 watts is not going to be enough.
All Magnepan's are inefficient speakers...relatively speaking.

The SMGa's are spec'd with a frequency response of 50-18khz +/-3db.

Cheers,

Dave.

[gootee]

Make sure you pull them out from the wall, four or five feet, or: One-third of room width between them, and one-third of the way from the wall behind them to the wall behind you is a good first attempt. Curtains on the wall behind them are usually good. Toe them in to face your listening position, as a first try, then experiment with small changes in angle and focal point foreward or rearward relative to your listening position. I like mine much more with the longer wall of the room behind them.

You will likely want a LOT more power. But they should be enjoyable at almost any power level. My MG-12/QR speakers were fine with a 30 WPC amp (seriously), but I like them slightly better with a 250 WPC amp.

They stay right at 4 Ohms, or whatever they are. They are just wires (except for crossover components).

[tnptruck]

Why do you want them away from the wall? Do these speakers play out of both sides?

[fperra]

Originally Posted by tnptruck

Do these speakers play out of both sides?

Yes.

[tnptruck]

Do these really go down to 50 hz? Also should I cross them over higher if I am gonna add a subwoofer?

[andyr]

Originally Posted by tnptruck

Do these really go down to 50 hz? Also should I cross them over higher if I am gonna add a subwoofer?

SMGas are great little speakers - very musical, with the right amp. (But the guy selling them obviously didn't know much about them! )

As fperra said, yes they "play out of both sides" - hence they are termed "dipoles".

Some people are using hundreds of watts rms to power SMGas - so I suspect you will find your 15w is just not enough. The trouble is, though, if you turn up your amp so it gets into clipping - you may damage the tweeters.

Yes, they go down to 50Hz (which is not very low BTW) and yes, I suggest rolling them off at 60 or 70Hz - rather than letting them run full range - would be worthwhile, if you are adding a sub (or pair of subs). You wil lessen the distortion they have, when trying to reproduce the lowest notes.

Regards,

Andy

[gootee]

Speaker differences

[kouiky]

Fifteen Watts will be enough for good listening levels but more never hurts, because if you're a distance away or listen louder you will need headroom. As for hundreds of watts, only if someone's hearing is failing. Some of the magnepans rise in impedance and phase angle rear the crossover, nothing unusual at all and quite like normal drivers in this respect. The magnaplanar drivers themselves, however, vary from zero degrees on a couple degrees at most and their impedance curve is flat, exactly what an amp likes best. They are analogous to a non industive dummy load.

[andyr]

Originally Posted by kouiky

Fifteen Watts will be enough for good listenibg levels but more wouldn't, because if you're a distance away or listen louder you will need headroom. As for hundreds of watts, only if someone's hearing is failing.

You also need headroom (for a 10th of a second or so) to faithfully deliver the leading edge of many transients. If you don't particularly care about this aspect of music reproduction then, no, you don't need 100s of watts ... if you do, you do need this power.

Just FYI, the ss amp driving the ribbons in my 3-way active Maggies can deliver 60w rms into 3 ohms. I generally don't listen at head-banger levels so I'm probably only drawing a watt or two for most of my listening but I have plenty of reserve when I need it. I like this as it means I am in no danger of driving the ribbon amp into clipping - an important consideration when the amp is directly connected to the ribbons (with no "safety" series resistor in between. :-)) ).


Regards,

Andy